MAIMOUNA - DAKAN

Maïny Damba was born in 1957, in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire. She is of Manding origin and comes from a large family living in Kita, a small town 180 km from Bamako in Mali. Kita is famous for its professional musicians, known as dyeli in Manding, griots in French: the ‘masters of speech’. Among the Manding people, in Guinea as in Mali, speech is an art that is passed on from generation to generation. Father and son, mother and daughter, sing and perform music at the traditional feasts which play such an important part in African life. From childhood onwards, Maïny Damba accompanied her grandmother, Mah Djakoussiran, and her mother, Mariam Kanonté, to every feast. That is how she learned the rich history of the Manding, Bambara, Peul and Sarakholé peoples; and how she learned to handle words and allegories, sing songs of praise, and fill her listeners with wonder. With her parents, she left for Bouaké and then pursued her career alone, performing at events throughout Côte d’Ivoire. Her daughter Adja accompanies her: like mother, like daughter, and the tradition goes on. After a career in Africa, Maïny Damba arrived in Paris in 1993. There she discovered another world of music. But customs die hard, even when you are five hours by plane from Africa, and Maïny provides music for all the traditional festivities of the various West African communities living in Paris. Although Maïny now lives in France, her heart is still in Africa, and she plans to return to Bouaké soon, to be with her family in an environment that is more conducive to her art.